Do words get in the way of leadership?

Provocation 1:

No school is the same but all their visions sound identical: how do words get in the way of what leadership are actually trying to say?

Stop Talking About Your Vision: Draw It

When I asked the Chief Executive about his vision for the organisation, I was in for five minutes of The Incomprehensible, that jargon-fuelled lingo with more bullet points than Full Metal Jacket that seems designed, in the listener’s ears, to bamboozle and exclude. “… And that’s really the DNA of our organisation” he said. It really was like DNA. You needed a doctorate to understand it.

Indeed, as a persistent doodler during any meeting, I had begun to draw what it felt like to me. Aiming for a one-thing-depends-too-much-on-the-next kind of spiral, I added a few dots, and presented the image to the webcam: “Like this?” I asked.